Apparently bolstered by the civil war for the Republican nomination for Governor in Florida,
State Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink, the Democrat, is on the plus side of very close races
over either Republican candidate, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released today. She
gets 31 percent to State Attorney General Bill McCollum's 29 percent. Sink gets 33 percent to
businessman Rick Scott's 29 percent. In either matchup, independent candidate Bud Chiles gets
12 percent and about 20 percent of voters are undecided.

Scott was at 29 percent to Sink's 27 percent in a July 30 poll by the independent
Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University and McCollum had 27 percent to Sink's 26 percent.

President Barack Obama has a split 47 - 47 percent job approval rating, compared to a
negative 46 - 50 percent approval July 30 and the President's best score in Florida since April.

"Watching television must have been an enjoyable experience for Florida CFO Alex Sink
over the last few months, as she watched Attorney General Bill McCollum and Rick Scott tear
into each other with attack ads. Although she trailed either GOP competitor by eight or nine
points in June, she has been the unintended beneficiary of the heavy volume of negative
television ads her potential November opponents launched against each other," said Peter Brown,
assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"She has been able to sit back and save her money for the November election, while
whoever wins the Republican primary will have substantial work to do healing wounds within his
own party and cleaning up his image," Brown added.

Sink's favorability numbers have hardly moved in the last two months, going from 28
- 14 percent favorable on June 9 to 30 - 15 percent favorable today, with 53 percent who don't
know enough about her to form an opinion.

"Once the primary is over, the race for Governor will be one to define Alex Sink for the
majority of Floridians who don't know enough about her to have an opinion. McCollum, who
leads the GOP primary race, has seen his favorable/unfavorable ratio sink from 37 - 29 percent
favorable among all registered voters to a negative 33 - 34 percent. Scott's has dropped from 31
- 22 percent favorable in June to a negative 28 - 40 percent today.

"At this point it's not clear whether independent Bud Chiles will be a force in November.
His numbers have ticked down since his announcement, but he is getting one in eight votes and
that is nothing to sneeze at," said Brown.

In the Senate race against Rubio and Meek, Crist gets 45 percent of the Democrats -
more than Meek's 36 percent - and 50 percent of the independent voters. Against Greene, Crist
gets 51 percent of the Democrats to Greene's 31 percent, and 48 percent of independent voters.

"Crist is getting more support from Democrats than either Greene or Meek. The key for
Crist will be whether he can hold this many Democrats once the party's nomination is settled and
keep his half of the independent voters," said Brown.

"Crist's edge in the Senate race is built on the very favorable impression Floridians have
of his performance as Governor. They approve 56 - 35 percent of how he is leading the state, an
impressive figure at a time when voters in many states seem to be taking out their economic
frustrations on their governors," said Brown.

From August 11 - 16, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,096 Florida voters with a margin
of error of +/- 3 percentage points.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio and the
nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed - http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, or call (203) 582-5201.

1. If the 2010 election for Governor were being held today and the candidates
were Alex Sink the Democrat, Bill McCollum the Republican and Bud Chiles
running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?

TREND: If the 2010 election for Governor were being held today and the
candidates were Alex Sink the Democrat, Bill McCollum the Republican and
Bud Chiles running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?

2. If the 2010 election for Governor were being held today and the candidates
were Alex Sink the Democrat, Rick Scott the Republican and Bud Chiles
running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?

TREND: If the 2010 election for Governor were being held today and the
candidates were Alex Sink the Democrat, Rick Scott the Republican and
Bud Chiles running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?

3. If the 2010 election for United States Senator were being held today and
the candidates were Kendrick Meek the Democrat, Marco Rubio the Republican
and Charlie Crist running as an independent candidate, for whom would you
vote?

TREND: If the 2010 election for United States Senator were being held today
and the candidates were Kendrick Meek the Democrat, Marco Rubio the Republican,
and Charlie Crist running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?

4. If the 2010 election for United States Senator were being held today and
the candidates were Jeff Greene the Democrat, Marco Rubio the Republican
and Charlie Crist running as an independent candidate, for whom would you
vote?

TREND: If the 2010 election for United States Senator were being held today
and the candidates were Jeff Greene the Democrat, Marco Rubio the Republican,
and Charlie Crist running as an independent candidate, for whom would you vote?